It’s been a mystery for 5,000 years, but scientists think they may finally have discovered the reason behind Stonehenge being built.
Evidence suggests the iconic stones were erected in Salisbury Plains in Wiltshire to unify ancient Britain, according to new research.
Earlier this year geologists revealed the famous Alter Slab hailed from far northeast Scotland, while it was already known that some of the rocks came from Wales and others more locally from Wiltshire.
Now, in a study published in Archaeology International, its lead author UCL Professor Mike Parker Pearson, explained: ‘The fact that all of its stones originated from distant regions, making it unique among over 900 stone circles in Britain, suggests that the stone circle may have had a political as well as a religious purpose.’
He added: ‘[It was] a monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.’
England, Scotland and Wales did not exist as countries when Stonehenge was built at various stages between 3000 and 1500 B.C – but the scientists say the structure could still have been a way of unifying different parts of the island.
Stonehenge is best known for the tall Sarsen stones that make up its distinctive appearance – these, it’s believed, came from West Woods in Wiltshire, around 15 north of the site.
But there are also around 80 smaller ‘bluestones’ that have a blueish tinge when wet or freshly broken.
These stones, experts mostly agree, were sourced from Craig Rhos-y-Felin in the Preseli Hills of south-west Wales.
The six-tonne, five-metre-long Altar Stone, which sits in the centre of Stonehenge is also bluestone, but its composition is different.
A research team, including two authors of the latest study, analysed the age and chemistry of the minerals of the stone and found they were very similar to the Old Red Sandstone of the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland.
As a result, the team concluded ‘with 95 per cent accuracy’ that the stone came from this area, which includes parts of Inverness, Thurso, Shetland and Orkney.
It’s not however, believed, the rock originated in Orkney.
The new study suggests the Altar Stone was transported somehow by Neolithic people living in what is now northern Scotland as a gift to those living in what is now southern England.
‘[This was] perhaps to cement an alliance or to take part in the extraordinary long-distance collaboration that building Stonehenge represented and embodied,’ the paper says.
It adds that the rocks from Wales may have been brought to the site for similar reasons.
The paper also says the recently identified link with Scotland could help explain similarities in ‘architecture and material culture’ between the area around Stonehenge and northern Scotland.
It adds: ‘Unusually strong similarities in house floor layouts between Late Neolithic houses in Orkney and the Durrington Walls settlement near Stonehenge also provide evidence of close connections between Salisbury Plain and northern Scotland,’ the team say.
In its early history, for around five centuries, Stonehenge was used as a cremation and burial site, with nearly half those buried coming from areas other than Salisbury Plain.
Experts say it shows how far people would travel to visit the site.
Thousands of people will flock to Stonehenge tomorrow to celebrate the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year.
The stones were built to align with the sun on the two solstices. On the summer solstice in June, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone in the north-east part of the horizon, and in the winter it sets to the south-west of the stone circle.
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